KEC signs Madinah Gate design deal with IBI

JEDDAH, 24 days
ago

Saudi Arabia's Knowledge Economic City (KEC) has signed an SR13.59 million ($3.63 million) contract with IBI to design the Madinah Gate project at the city.

Madinah Gate project will be built on an area of 37,000 sq m and will comprise three main stages of construction, said a report in Zawya, quoting Mubasher.

Under the 42-week contract, two phases of design works of Madinah Gate project will be carried out, according to a filing to the Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadawul).

The first phase will include general studies, preliminary designs and estimated costs and the second phase will include the detailed designs, bids and executive plans.

Knowledge Economic City (KEC) is aimed to serve Saudi Arabia’s economic diversification strategy and reviving Madinah’s role as a centre for the Islamic knowledge and a global knowledge and culture centre.

KEC is a 6.9 million sq m zone located only 5 km from the holy mosque on the main axis connecting the airport, train station with the holy mosque providing numerous investment and development opportunities across all the sectors through commercial, residential, educational, and hospitality projects that will enable KEC to be a knowledge industries hub and enabler.

Knowledge Economic City Company (KEC), under the supervision of Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (SAGIA), plans to develop Madinah Gate part of Madinah Economic City located 5 km east of Al Haram, Medina, Saudi Arabia.

Downtown’s feasibility study was completed as of March 2019, and in a statement at the time, the Tadawul-listed KEC said that the project’s initial design aimed at developing KEC’s main commercial market and associated hotel units within Phase 1 of the eponymous project. In an Arabic-language missive issued in July 2019, KEC said the first phase of Chapman Taylor’s contract included general site studies, preliminary designs and studies, milestone establishment, and estimated costs.

Phase 2 of its contract would cover detailed design and tender documentation works, as well as the formation of operational plans for the project according to its various implementation milestones, as agreed during Phase 1 of the contract.

KEC said Chapman Taylor was mandated to ensure “the effective use of available spaces” within the project’s site, with elements such as a 12.9 ha mall, and 12.2 ha boulevard-style leasable area, planned for inclusion within the project.

The boulevard will feature an interactive museum about Madinah, in addition to an entertainment space and a cinema. Hospitality elements planned for development within Downtown three- and four-star hotels that will create 350 rooms and 150 hotel apartments within Phase 1 of KEC.

In March 2019, KEC said that it expected to start drilling and site processing work for Downtown in Q4 2019, with construction work to begin in 2020, with completion expected within three years.